Microsofthas been a gaming giant for a long time, and it’s even bigger after a series of multi-billion-dollar acquisitions over the last couple of years. The Xbox manufactureracquired publisher and developer Bethesdain 2021 and followed up with its record-breaking $20 billion buyouts of Activision Blizzard.
However, it turns out that this is not the first time thatMicrosofthas attempted to snag Blizzard for itself. According to former Xbox vice president Ed Fries, he tried to buy out Blizzard twice before his departure from Microsoft in 2004.
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Fries discussed the historybetween Blizzard and Microsoftduring the April 17th episode of the XboxEra podcast. He revealed that Microsoft first attempted to acquire Blizzard in 1996, long beforeWorld of Warcraftturned the studio into a household name. However, theWarcraftseries of real-time strategies was already an established brand by that point and played a significant role in the RTS boom of the 1990s. This is what drew Microsoft to the studio. “If you think about the roots of our PC gaming business,” said Fries, “it was real-time strategy…Warcraft, of course, was their biggest product.” Fries was also a Blizzard fan himself and attempted to acquire the studio’s parent company for Microsoft when it went up for sale in 1996.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, real-estate and travel company Cendant Corporation ultimately gained possession of Blizzard. During the podcast, Fries recalled lamenting, “I just got outbid by a time-share camping business?” Microsoft’s second attempt at acquiring Blizzard occurred in 1998 when Cendant put it up for sale. However, the company lost out again, this time to the French water utility company Vivendi, who also owned shares in Ubisoft. That would be Microsoft’s final attempt at acquiring Blizzard during Fries’s time with the studio. Blizzard went on toreleaseWorld of Warcraftin 2004. According to Fries, the game’s overwhelming financial success made Blizzard un-purchasable from Microsoft’s perspective.
Notably, Blizzard wasn’t the only major 1990s RTS developer Microsoft attempted to buy. According to Fries, he was in negotiations withCommand & Conquerdeveloper Westwood Studios before EA sniped the studio out from under him. EA ultimately closed Westwood in 2003, and Fries still believes Westwood would have been better off under Microsoft’s umbrella. Granted, that association didn’t save the originalAge of EmpiresandHalo WarsdeveloperEnsemble Studios, which Microsoft shuttered in 2009.
Given Microsoft’s history with Blizzard, its record-breaking buyout makes a lot of sense. Reportedly,Microsoft began negotiating with Activision Blizzardonly three days after the latter’s CEO, Bobby Kotick, was implicated for his role in the company’s toxic workplace culture. So, while certainly a shady move, it is unsurprising that Microsoft jumped to purchase Blizzard as soon as an opportunity presented itself.
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